Remembering Ben Johnson…

March 12, 2014

Published on April 19, 1996 in the Kansas City Kansan on the occasion of actor Ben Johnson’s death.

 

COWBOY ACTOR’S DEATH MEANS END OF AN ERA FOR WESTERN FILMS

 

By Steve Crum 

 

Ben Johnson rode with the best of them on and off screen during his 60-plus cowboy years as a trick and stunt rider, rodeo star, actor, and ultimately Academy Award winner. His death at 75 on April 8 adds closure to the great era of Western movies that spanned from William S. Hart and Tom Mix silents to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Most of his cowboy co-stars and directors are long gone, including mentors Duke Wayne, Ward Bond, and John Ford—the revered “John Ford Stock Company.” Under Pappy Ford, Ben Johnson’s gutsy, hard riding heroics forever dazzle in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Ford Apache, and Rio Grande.


Yet his best Western work, Ford’s low-keyed Wagonmaster, gave him his first stretch as star actor. Teamed with another Ford stock actor, Harry Carey Jr. (who is still alive), Johnson is terrific as a cowpuncher who very reluctantly agrees to guide a group of Mormon settlers (led by Ward Bond) to their promised land out West. 

 

It was always Ben Johnson in a cowboy hat, even in monster film Mighty Joe Young (he ropes that giant ape), and later roles as a modern day Lone Star lawman in The Sugarland Express as well as owner of a has been movie theater (his Best Supporting Actor Oscar) in The Last Picture Show. A late career highlight was his gritty part as a weathered outlaw in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, restored and re-released last year.

 

The Oklahoma cowboy off-screen was devoted to raising thousands for afflicted children via his annual charity rodeo in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was also devoted to his fans, appearing regularly at dozens of nationwide film festivals.

 

Alan Brehm, a friend of mine who is a premiere film collector and historian possessing a fantastic collection of John Ford memorabilia, witnessed Johnson’s open persona at last summer’s Memphis Film Festival held at a local hotel there. 

 

“Ben was the main reason I went down there,” said Brehm. “He was supposed to come in early on a Friday, but arrived late, at 9 p.m.” Brehm said Johnson had not been feeling well, and was encouraged by an aide to go to his room to rest. Twenty minutes later, Johnson appeared at the door of the festival’s main area, his friend still pressuring him to get some sleep. Ben Johnson was adamant about staying.

 

“These are my fans,” he said. “If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.” For the next hour or so, Johnson tirelessly greeted fans and signed autographs. Then he returned to his room. Brehm, who was staying at the same hotel, was in the hall at about 1 a.m. and saw Johnson carrying an armload of folders to his room. 

 

“Goodnight, Ben!” yelled Brehm. “Get some sleep!” “Yeah, boy!” was his reply.

 

A treasure of Brehm’s is the movie still of Rio Grande that Johnson personalized with a quote directed to his character in the same film: “You’re a man I can trust. Your friend, Ben Johnson.”

Reports are that Johnson died of a heart attack after visiting his mother at the retirement community in which they both lived. The beloved old cowboy will be missed.
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This photo of Ben Johnson was taken during the 1995 Memphis Film Festival. 
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Retro book review: ‘Hollywood Hi-Fi’

March 11, 2014

This book review/feature was published July 12, 1996 in The Kansas City Kansan.

 

WHILE ACTORS MAY LOOK GOOD, THEY AREN’T ALWAYS VOCALISTS.

By Steve Crum 

Truly bad celebrity vocalizing can be both painful and fascinating to the discriminating listener. Take Burt Reynolds, who warbles Cole Porter with Cybill Shepherd in 1975’s disastrous musical, At Long Last Love. PLEASE take Burt Reynolds! Yet the double soundtrack record album is collectible more so for Reynolds’ strained singing. Figure that out.

Authors George Gimarc and Pat Reeder have not only figured that out, but tapped into a gold mine of bizarre musical gigs with their fascinating soft back book, Hollywood Hi-Fi. Subtitled Over 100 of the Most Outrageous Celebrity Recordings Ever!, the 128-pager chronicles movie and TV stars who should have stuck with what they knew best and left the songs to the singers. Luckily they didn’t. Otherwise posterity and recordings would suffer from not having the likes of Pee-wee Herman singing “Surfin’ Bird,” and Archie and Edith Bunker screeching “Oh Babe, What Would You Say?”

Gimarc and Reeder contend that “laughing yourself limp” while listening to Bette Davis sing the soberest “Mother of the Bride” (on a 45 rpm recording) is far more entertaining than, say, “listening to 45 minutes of C-minor arpeggios from John Tesh.” Good point. The book is also a salute to “a whole genre of records that has been largely ignored by pop culture historians.”
It is a fun and fast read, crammed with background information and clever jabs. Original album and 45 covers are featured as well. For TV rerunners there are the recordings of Telly (Kojak) Savalas; the girls from Petticoat Junction; Beverly Hillbillies’ Buddy Ebsen and Irene Ryan; and Jim (Gomer) Nabors and George (Goober) Lindsey. Of course, Nabors obviously had the majority of Pyle singing talent, being featured in over a dozen Columbia albums. Other TV tuners include Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke), Joe E. Ross (Car 54, Where Are You?), and Danny (The Partridge Family) Bonaduce. Late of the late night talk show, Arsenio Hall even cut a CD, Chunky A. It puts the wrap on rap.
 

Robert Mitchum singing? Yep, on an album called Calypso…Is Like So…. If you can take that, then take the commercially recorded songs of Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Lee Marvin, and Rock Hudson.

Dozens more stars have been pressed on vinyl, tape, and CD; and all are documented herein. Eighteen of the tracks, in fact, are available on a co-produced (by the book’s authors) via Hollywood Hi-Fi CD. It makes beguiling background noise while reading the companion book. 
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Checking my own truly strange celebrity recordings, I found a wealth of weirdness, some included in Gimarc and Reeder’s book. Those not chronicled, but that I have:
•Cary Grant warbling “Christmas Lullaby,” a mostly talked, string-sappy, tearful earful found on a limited edition Christmas album produced by the now defunct Grant’s store chain. No relation to Cary.
•Tough guy star John Garfield reading “Raymond the White Rabbit” on a children’s album. 
•Ted Knight doing his Ted Baxter voice on a single, “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.” At one point, he quips, “Are you as tired of this song as I am?” Oh, yes. 
•Renee Taylor (now the nanny’s mom on The Nanny) singing a 1960’s forgotten tune, “I’m In Love With Jack.” The Jack is John F. Kennedy, and Taylor sings the song a la Jackie’s voice, accompanied by a cha-cha arrangement. (“I really fell in love…cha-cha-cha…on the night of the Great Debate…cha-cha-cha.”) A collector’s showcase.
•Other all-time forgottens include: “The Humphrey Bogart Rhumba,” Red Buttons’ “The Ho Ho Song,” Bill Cosby’s “Stand Still For My Lovin’,” and Richard Chamberlain barely modulating “Close To You,” recorded during his Dr. Kildare days. 

Imagine what could have been done with this material had MTV existed back then. Staggering. 
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Authors Gimac and Reeder are featured in this promo for their book in which we get to hear William Frawley aka Fred Mertz sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDUFw0GA-2E

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Movie Asides: ‘THE GODFATHER’

March 10, 2014
By Steve Crum
A bizarre scene unfolded opening night* in 1972 of The Godfather at the Empire Theater in Kansas City. I was seated far enough back to the left that I could pretty clearly see the right side front rows of the audience. At that angle I witnessed irony. 
The film began, and Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone mumbled in widescreen closeup to a thug disciple about making an offer not to refuse. Simultaneously, a tardy movie patron—a burly guy—was cutting his way across the third row from the front aisle, making people stand in the process and blocking others from watching the movie. 
It pissed off another burly guy so much he screamed at the interrupter to get the hell out of the way. A fist fight immediately began between the two, juxtaposed with the godfather softly talking on the screen, stroking his kitty cat. Meanwhile, ushers (remember when movie theaters had ushers?) made their way to quell the disturbance. Surprisingly, no police were involved, and the two quarrelers finally, quietly settled down a few seats apart, and the focus was back on The Godfather and its own tale filled with fist fights and endless killings. Life imitates art imitates life imitates ad nauseam. 
Igniting the audience’s edginess was the fact we all had to wait in line so long to get in, and it was a sold-out showing. The Godfather was also a highly publicized and anticipated event. Anxiety reigned. 
As it turned out, excitement about the movie was justified. Director Francis Ford Coppola’s gem is now film lore, a classic in the truest sense. 
When I watch it at home now, I keep looking around to see if any fist fight has broken out. 
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*Even though I attended what I thought to be opening night, it has been reported that the actual opening night was the night before. KC’s Italian-American Unification Council “felt the movie was harmful, so harmful that two of its leaders spent their own money buying every ticket to the premiere showing.” Therefore, opening night played to an empty house. Maybe that fist fight in the audience the second night was a planned event?
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Here is an offer you cannot refuse…the trailer to The Godfather: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY1S34973zA
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‘Waiting for Godot’ continues to frustrate, challenge

March 9, 2014
Among the first reviews I ever wrote is Waiting for Godot. Seasoned professional theatre critics still struggle with making some semblance out of Beckett’s tragi-comedy, featuring a surreal plot and eccentric characters. As a 20 year-old college student, I sat there taking notes, never really knowing what the hell was happening on stage. But the actors were acting, so I figured whatever I tried to explain about the goings-on would be just as valid as anyone else’s interpretation. 
As it turned out, several little old ladies in the audience stormed out of the theatre in obvious disgust at the dialogue and stage actions. I think they left during the farting scene. 
The illustrious Emporia Gazette critic was there the same opening night, and gave Godot a sound thumbs down. This gave me some notoriety since we were so opinion-split. I was told more folks attended the production than expected, because they wanted to see which critic was on the mark. 
Nonetheless, what follows is what was published in The Bulletin, Emporia State’s student newspaper, on Oct. 18, 1967. 
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QUALITY OF SEASON’S FIRST, MAKES ‘GODOT’ WELL WORTH WAITING FOR
By Steve Crum
Waiting for Godot, the first New Theatre production of the season, opened Monday evening.
It was brilliant.
The plot is centered upon two seemingly ignorant men who encounter various problems while waiting for the mysterious man, Godot. The primary concern of the entire play is not the appearance of Godot, but instead, the discipline of waiting.
The attitude of each of the characters is one of confusion and uncertainty. As a study of man’s actions, both mental and physical, author Samuel Beckett is perceptive. Psychologically, the play ponders and answers many questions that are seemingly devoid of answers. One of the characters, Didi, rationalizes at one point, “When you seek, you believe.”
Being one of the most famous of the “Theatre of the Absurd” productions, Godot traditionally incorporates several recognizable qualities: broken dialogue, inconsistency in progression and harmony, a minimum of props and scenery, and at times, almost hellish dreamlike visions.
Directed by William E. McDonnell, himself a graduate of the “absurd theatre,” Godot exhibits precision. One more clearly understand because director McDonnell makes them understand.
There are only five characters in the play: Jim Daniels as Estragon (Gogo); Larry Remmers as Vladimir (Didi), Conrad Jestmore as Lucky, Patrick Kelley as Pozzo, and promising newcomer to the New Theatre stage, Indulis Dambro as the boy messenger.
Jim Daniels and Larry Remmers should undoubtedly be applauded for their frequently too realistic characterizations of Gogo and Didi. Daniels, as the sarcastic and sleepy hobo, blended appropriately with Larry Remmers, portraying the bombastic bed wetter and sometime intellectual. 
Conrad Jestmore holds the more physical part in his portrayal of the man servant of Pozzo. Jestmore does not speaks very much during the course of the play (he is usually bent over, grumbling somewhat), but it is a high point when he does speak. His “soliloquy” is memorable, though, on my part, unquotable. He must have said something.
The part of Pozzo, the egotistical slave driver, is enacted by Patrick Kelley. Here again, the character required versatility, and Mr. Kelley was effective.
Waiting for Godot will run through Oct. 21. Tickets are still available at the College Theatre box office, New Humanities Building. The price is 50 cents plus activity ticket, which is an inexpensive way to see an extremely high caliber play.

During the “showdown” scene of Godot, insults are directed at each of the two participants much like bullets, the mortal wound occurring with the mention of “critic.” It was difficult to keep from smiling. 
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An excerpt from the 2014 Broadway revival of Waiting For Godot, featuring Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUXtzkLTABI
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Backstage, Onstage…with Preservation Hall Jazz Band

March 9, 2014
CBS Sunday Morning, this morning, featured a piece on New Orleans’ venerable, famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This prompted memories of seeing and hearing the touring Preservation Hall group in 1967 while I was studying at Emporia State University (then Kansas State Teachers College). Before their fantastic performance, I chatted with two of its members, Billie and De De Pierce. They are long since dearly departed. 
While other veteran Preservation Hall musicians have passed on since its founding in 1961 (the average age at any given time is 70-75), replacements (mostly elderly) have stayed on, died, and been replaced themselves. Repeatedly. Lesley Stahl’s CBS feature did a fine job covering the current band and its history. 
My take on the band was published in The Bulletin, the university newspaper, Oct. 11, 1967, when I was a 20 year-old junior. 
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PRESERVATION HALL ROCKS EMPORIA WITH ‘DIXIELAND’
By Steve Crum
Even if one were to understate the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Oct. 4 performance, the review would have to include such superlatives as “tremendous,” “exciting,” and “unforgettable.”
Why use such complimentary terms? If you were there, then you know why. If you were not there, then you missed something.
The five member group, billed as “The Last original Dixieland Band Direct From New Orleans,” displayed a musical technique that dates back to the New Orleans jazz era of 1919.
There have been many imitators of the Dixieland sound. The Preservation group is the real thing.
Their music hits deep. You could not help but move when it moved, smile when it was happy, or to feel mellowed when it was sad. Their music leveled. It manipulated.
Take for an example the Emporia audience who presented the jazz group with a standing ovation…at the end of the first half of the show. Three more such ovations occurred during the second half.
Fifteen minutes before their performance began, Billie and De De Pierce, the two featured performers, sat backstage. They were quiet. Perhaps they were thinking about the 14 week cross-country tour they are presently on. For a group whose average age is 70 years, an extended tour is a tiring experience.
Surprisingly, however, it was a youthful Mrs. Pierce who praised the current trend of music. “We like all music.” She spoke of her memories as a young woman, of her long marriage to De De, and of New Orleans, When asked about once playing jazz for funerals, De De added, “Oh yeah, and they still have funerals like that down there.”
Soon it was time for the aged Dixieland musicians to perform. Billie led her almost blind husband out to his chair at stage center. He picked up his trumpet, and she sat down at the piano. The rest of the company soon came out: Jim Robinson, trombonist; William Humphrey Jr., clarinetist: and Josiah “Cie” Frazier, drummer. 
The following two hours were memorable.

It is too bad there were not more college students there. They would have witnessed a vanishing era, and then walked away feeling good inside. 
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Enjoy this brief overview of Billie and De De Pierce in performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiPDC_QTUts
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